Sugar Rush
by thesilverhaireddevil
Summary: Asuka goes to stay with Lili in Monaco. But what sort of present do you get the girl who has everything?


Asuka's never seen so much _stuff_ in her life. She looks around in silence as Lili continues to chatter happily, ushering her into the room, while Sebastian dutifully carries in Asuka's things. Lili has a room the size of an aircraft hanger, and Asuka immediately notices the perfectly comfortable-looking bed that's already been laid out for her. The mattress looks new and soft, the covers are pale blue and pristine, and the pillows are plump and opulent and look very inviting; yet somehow Asuka knows she'll spend very little time there. Lili strikes her as a girl who prefers to share beds and stay up giggling and whispering all night, even at this age. She looks over to Lili's bed; it could easily fit a whole city's worth of people in there, yet Asuka knows if they share a bed, it'll suddenly feel very small.

Lili has a way of invading her personal space, flicking loose strands of hair off her face, prissily adjusting Asuka's headband, until Asuka gets annoyed and shouts and challenges her to the fight she's clearly after. Only, as she discovered not long after, it wasn't just a fight Lili wanted.

Asuka recalls their first kiss, in the tree, and feels a hot blush begin to creep up the side of her face. _The first and the second and the five after that too_. Quickly, she turns and goes to the window, hoping the cool sea breeze will help. Outside is like something from a film; gleaming white yachts crowd the harbour, the sun is unconcealed by clouds and the sea is a placid green-blue, lighter than the one at home. They don't get tsunamis here.

Lili has promised they can go out on the yacht (or "the boat" as she rather patronisingly calls it, which seems inadequate for something the length of five baseball pitches, Asuka thinks), and she has also promised they can go out and go shopping and look around. Asuka's not that interested in shopping and she doubts she could afford anything here anyway, but Lili's enthusiasm is so infectious and she came to spend time with the girl…

Lili comes up behind her. She's kicked off her boots and she's mercifully shorter without them. Underneath her feet are bare and she's wearing hot pink varnish on her toenails. Her hand rests comfortably on Asuka's shoulder. "Do you like it?"

"It's," Asuka tries, distracted by the fingers on her skin, "it's very pretty."

"Isn't it?" Lili smiles, taking her hand away and coming over on her other side. "You can rest here and then we can eat or go out or…" She doesn't finish the sentence; her eyes trail enquiringly over to Asuka.

Asuka looks away nervously, she's not feeling much like sleeping, even though the jet lag has settled on her and her head feels all heavy and cloudy. It's her heart that's pounding and she feels full of a bright, fizzy sort of energy. Speaking of which…

"Present! I got you a present!" she almost yells, and stumbles away from Lili towards her bags.

Lili raises an eyebrow and sits on Asuka's bed to wait. Asuka's scrabbling roughly through her case and then she finds it, tucked away safely by her mother, who obviously knows how carelessly Asuka treats her possessions. The bag is bright and the plastic's still smooth, and Asuka smiles as she drags it out and hands it over.

When Sebastian and Lili's father had met her parents, before they'd approved her going to Monaco for two weeks, Asuka's mother had asked Sebastian what would be best to bring as a gift. (Asuka's really old enough not to need permission to travel by herself, but her parents are veryprotective, and they're also the ones paying for her flight. Besides, Lili had wanted her father to meet Asuka's parents and they do have a private jet they can use any time.)

Sebastian's kind face had been lost in thought.

"It's hard to say, she already has everything and she doesn't like to wait to get something. But for a small gift…she likes sweets."

"Sweets?"

Sebastian's grave face creased into an almost-smile. "The stickier and brighter the better. Bring some over with you."

Despite this, Asuka's still anxious as she watches Lili peer into the bag and then Lili's rushing at her, squealing, hugging her tightly.

"ASUKA KAZAMA, HOW DID YOU KNOW?!"

Asuka's blushing but she's not denying that she enjoys this. "I'm glad you like it!"

Lili pulls away, eyes shining. "You brought all my favourites! Those lemon gummies, those cute little bear puffs and SO…MUCH…POCKY!"

Asuka smiles nervously; she thought she might have brought too much Pocky. Eleven different flavours in a total of twenty different boxes is excessive by almost anyone's measure. Although considering where she currently is…

Lili rips open a box of strawberry Pocky and offers it to Asuka; Asuka comes over and sits beside her. Strawberry's her favourite. Lili eats hers differently, she notices, just picking off the icing with her teeth before eating the biscuit stick separately. Asuka prefers to break her stick into pieces with her mouth and eat each separate piece slowly. They sit and eat in companionable silence until there's only one stick left.

Lili notices first. "You have it."

Asuka shakes her head, it would be rude. "It's a present for you, you finish it."

Lili is firm and won't be swayed. "You're _my_ guest, I insist."

They keep shoving the box back and forth between them, and it could have come to blows if Lili hadn't finally snatched the box and the stick. Asuka thought that would be the end of it until she sees Lili has the biscuit end of the stick waggling out of her mouth cheekily. It's inelegant and it makes her laugh, but Asuka gets the point all the same.

Asuka leans forward and takes the bare end of the stick in her own mouth. Lili's slowly making her way closer, sucking the icing off before crunching the biscuit after, and Asuka's doing the same, both of them getting closer with every bite.

When their mouths meet, the sweet taste of strawberry icing and biscuit is quickly overpowered by other sensations; by the softness of Lili's lips, by the way the tongue between those lips is exploring Asuka's mouth, promising much as it teases, by the way Lili's strong hands have caught her wrists, thumbs stroking away softly.

Lili doesn't need to be so possessive, Asuka thinks, because she has no intention of escaping. She leans in, strokes her fingers through the soft strands of Lili's hair right at the back of her neck. Lili releases her grip, puts her arm around Asuka's waist to pull her closer.

Eventually, they break away, and look at each other. Lili speaks first.

"I'm glad you're here."

"Me too," Asuka replies, meaning it, and she's heartened by the look of delight that lights up Lili's face.

"What do you want to do now?"

This might be an awkward question to answer later, or _not_ awkward depending, but the sudden dull throb of tiredness in her head makes it easy. Asuka rubs her temples, trying to get away the cloud that's settled behind her eyes, but it's useless. _Stay awake_, her mother cautioned, _or you'll be a mess for twice as long. Your friend won't like that_.

"Let's go out. I'm starting to feel tired and I don't want to sleep through half the time here."

Lili nods, but she looks a little disappointed, so Asuka takes her hand and watches Lili's fingers slide between hers. They seem to fit her hand perfectly.

"I want to do lots of things while I'm here – and we've got a lot more Pocky to get through!"


End file.
